Comments by tennis4kk

I really appreciate your courage by sharing your story with us. I can’t believe that I am sharing a part of my experience with a community dedicated to changing attitudes about mental illness. I am in the process of going off Paxil & Wellbutrin. Paxil relieved my anxiety but increased my compulsion to overeat, gamble and watch TV. I am so sensitive to Paxil that a dose over 10 mg resulted in complete lethargy. After complaining about low energy to my dr, I was then prescribed Wellbutrin. I missed one dose of Paxil last November & suffered horrible flu like symptoms for 2 days. I called a friend at our psychiatry dept & their nurse confirmed I was experiencing “Paxil Flu.” Lovely. Recently I spent $1100 on an overeating program & realized I could have taught the course as I have been trying to end my overeating behavior for the last 40 years. I have explored mindfulness & spirituality for the last 4 years which has been somewhat helpful, but eventually I fall back into my negative thinking which results in anxiety, depression & feelings of hopelessness. I am a self help book junkie and currently have 70 ebooks loaded on my iPhone. Two months ago while looking at self help/spiritual books on Amazon, I stumbled upon an author, Y V Chawla. I downloaded one of his books “Understanding and Ending the problem making mechanism.” After reading just one chapter, a new understanding of how my brain and thoughts work took hold. He has several books which are short and simple, and I highly recommend reading them. I read through his books everyday because my programmed thoughts are so persuasive, but little by little this new understanding is taking hold. My relationships with people are changing (for the good!). I am experiencing joy, and a confidence has emerged that has enabled me to write about my life in this forum. And all this while I am coming off of these drugs. One last thing, I’m down to 5 mg of Paxil & asked my dr to prescribe me the drug in liquid form for a more exact tapering and found out that it isn’t in their formulary. They have to order it & will cost me $40. Well worth it in my mind!
Anyway, thank you for letting me write about my experience and allowing me to read about yours.